What Does Genesis 30:32 Mean in the King James?
I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The flock’s markings are not incidental traits; they are the boundary that makes the wage visible.
THE MEANING
A share becomes legible when it is distinguished from the whole. Here, the marked animals are named as the wage, and the terms define which part of the flock belongs to that share. What is set apart can be recognized as what is owed.
THE ROOT
שְׂכָרִי
sekhari
GROWS FROM
שכר
sh-kh-r
wages, hire, or recompense
“hire” in this verse is sekhari. The root names both the recompense and the hired worker who receives it. Here the wage is concrete: the marked animals themselves are Jacob’s agreed share.
ALSO GROWS
sakhar: wages or reward
שָׂכָר
It names the recompense that the verse defines as a portion of the flock.
sakhir: a hired worker
שָׂכִיר
The same root links the agreed payment to the person whose work it answers.
נָקֹד
naqod
GROWS FROM
נקד
n-k-d
to mark or distinguish with dots
“speckled” in this verse is naqod. This word carries the image of a surface identified by points. The marked coat is not just an appearance; it makes this category of animals recognizable within the flock.
ALSO GROWS
neqūdah: a point or dot
נְקֻדָּה
It makes explicit the small marks carried in the word for speckled.
niqqud: pointing or vowel marks
נִקּוּד
It names marks that distinguish how written text is read, echoing the verse’s use of visible marks to distinguish a share.
טָלוּא
talu
GROWS FROM
טלא
t-l-ʾ
to patch or mark with patches
“spotted” in this verse is talu. This word evokes patchwork, a coat composed of distinct patches rather than dots. Together with speckled, it preserves two visibly different patterns as terms of the wage.
ALSO GROWS
telai: a patch
טְלָאִי
It names the patch-like mark that gives the spotted coat its pattern.
tala: to patch
טָלָא
The verb traces the spotted appearance to patches joined into a marked surface.
THE PATTERN
A wage is an explicitly named share, and its terms determine what is owed.
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.THE THREAD
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.Both verses use the Hebrew root שכר (sh-kh-r), meaning wages or hire, for the recompense. Genesis 31:8 makes the link especially visible: the wage is named through the flock’s markings, and those terms shape what is received.
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